R&r Case

The opportunity:

Timing: Reiss identified in 1983 a small window of opportunity to introduce a new trivia game. In Canada sales for Trivial Pursuit were 100,000 units and in his experience the US market was 10 times that of Canada, so if he could replicate the success this was a great opportunity. The company distributing Trivial pursuit not having a strong marketing background and performing poorly at the toy fair in February by August was moving the game at retail which meant there was a market for the game. In Sept of 1983 the only trivia game was trivial pursuit, and two new small companies were launching their own game and taking orders. Reiss saw the opportunity for a new trivia game and decided to create his own. He needed to introduce the game at the February Trade Fair in 1984 if he wanted to take advantage of the short window of opportunity. Reiss also knew that games have a very short life span frequently no more than two years so he needed to move fast to enter the market.

Customer Need: in teaming up with TV Guide he realized that American families watch an average of 7 hours of TV per day, and TV had a circulation of 18 million copies per week, which offered a strong PR opportunity needed in lieu of a large advertisement investment. The game would be attractive to adults and children since it had no sexual content and could be distributed in over 10,000 retailers. Trivia pursuit was the top non electronic game projecting to sale 1 million units. Time had come up with their game and was having unprecedented sales for a product with no finished sample, so there was definitely a market for the product. Because of the large TV audience Reiss new the game would have broadband appeal. The game would not compete with trivial pursuit as it was to be sold cheaper and the cards were to be played on the Trivial pursuit board, which later changed as TV Guide wanted their own game.

The Entrepreneur and the management